Ndidi Nwuneli Writes On Implications of the Monsanto ruling on African Farmers

On August 10th, 2018, a California judge ordered Monsanto, a global agribusiness owned by Bayer, to pay $289 million in damages to Dewayne Johnson, a former groundskeeper who used the Monsanto herbicide Roundup for many years and is now dying of cancer.

As I watched the news of this ruling announced on major international channels, i thought of the wider implications this decision could have on farmers that i work with in Africa. At the crux of this issue is the chemical glyphosate, the main ingredient of Roundup, the most widely used weed killer in the world. It is the most herbicide in South Africa, and is widely used across African continent with minimal safety oversight. The ruling should sound an alarm for African governments, farmers and civil society organisations as safety protocols are falling far behind rising demand for crop protection products in Africa.